1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air discharging device for discharging an air stream, particularly into a vehicle interior, with at least one air conducting device, which is adjustable at least with respect to its air discharging characteristics and which is disposed in at least one first air discharge region of the air discharging device.
2. Description of the Background Art
During the ventilation of closed interior spaces, such as, for example, of motor vehicles, air is drawn in very generally at one or at a number of places, processed, and delivered into the interior space to be ventilated. In this case, air can be taken in both from the environment and/or at least in part and/or at least intermittently also from the interior space itself, which is to be ventilated (so-called recirculated air operation). The air so drawn in is processed, for example, by heating (heating operation), cooling (air conditioning operation), and/or filtering (removal of dirt particles, pollen, and the like).
In particular in the case of ventilation of vehicle interiors, a number of places are usually provided where the processed air flows into the vehicle interior. For example, air supply openings, which are oriented in the direction of the windshield, in the direction of the side windows, and/or in the direction of the driver/passenger footwell, and air supply openings, which are provided in the area of the dashboard and aim in the direction of the driver/passenger, are typically provided today. In this regard, different air discharge characteristics are desirable depending on the position of the air delivery opening. Thus, for example, the airflow in the footwell of the driver/passenger should occur as diffusely as possible to avoid undesirable drafts. In the case of air discharge in the direction of the windshield or side windows, in contrast, a directed air stream is generally practical, for example, to be able to defrost the window in question as quickly as possible.
In the case of air delivery openings which are positioned in the dashboard, the task is more complex. Thus, depending on the ambient conditions and/or depending on the personal preferences of the driver or passenger, it is desirable to make available a diffuse air discharge at certain times but a directed air discharge at other times (so-called spot ventilation operation).
To be able to satisfy such high comfort requirements, it is basically possible to provide two different types of air vent nozzles, namely, spot air discharge nozzles, on the one hand, and diffuse air vent nozzles, on the other. In this type of approach, however, the installation space required for this is problematic.
For example, German Pat. Appl. No. DE 10 2007 013 868 A1 proposed furthermore an air vent, which can deliver both a directed airflow and a diffuse airflow (vortex flow). The switching between directed air discharge (spot operation) and diffuse air delivery occurs by the adjustment of a control element. Based on the structure of the air vent nozzle proposed in DE 10 2007 013 868 A1, however, the nozzle of necessity has a circular outer contour. This type of outer contour is in fact advantageous, when it comes to being able to direct the air discharge direction in very different directions.
In the conventional art, however, because of specific installation situations in motor vehicles, a non-circular installation space is available. This is a problem, however, particularly in the motor vehicle sector, because here, on the one hand, installation space, particularly in the area of the dashboard, is extremely tight and “valuable,” and, on the other, the installation space available for ventilation devices, especially in the area of the dashboard, typically does not have a circular cross-sectional shape. This generally has the result that installation space, which would have been actually available for the delivery of air, is not utilized or not optimally utilized for the release of air. As a result, the air delivery performance of the air discharge nozzle in question decreases. In order to compensate for this, it is possible to increase the blower output, which, however, can lead to increased operating noise and to an increased use of energy for driving the various different blower devices. This is naturally a disadvantage.
A proposal in the case of a non-circular installation situation to realize the most efficient air vent nozzle possible was made in German Offenlegungsschrift No. DE 10 2004 038 016 A1, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 8,038,516, which is incorporated herein by reference. There, for the improved utilization of a substantially rectangular installation space it is proposed to design an air vent nozzle with two air vent parts, each disposed next to one another. Casually stated, this refers to two individual air vent nozzles, substantially independent and disposed next to one another. The increased production costs in particular, which arise for the production of the two air vent nozzles with a relatively complex structure, may be problematic with this type of structure, however. Moreover, installation space is also given away in the structure proposed there, even if to a lesser extent. To reduce the costs of the air vent nozzle proposed in this publication, the nozzle is made substantially without movable elements.